REVIEW: Zeently Productions Presents Mike Nye Benefit Show

On Saturday April 27, Zeently Productions presented the benefit show for local musician Mike Nye. Five bands came out to support the cause and play some seriously heavy sh- with Architects of Doom, Forces of Nature, King Stench, Spike Opera and The Reefer Hut alongside a crowd of local talent, friends and fans showing up to support Nye in his recovery.

While hanging out at a fellow musician’s house Nye suffered a freak, fluke injury coming down a flight of concrete steps planting his foot.  His momentum caused an awkward shift resulting in several leg injuries including 2 cracks in the tibia, 1 fibula and a top ankle crack. A halo was placed on his leg with 9 insertion points used to reset bones with wires and three metal rods attached to bones. There’s a 6-8 month healing window expected and Nye hopes to be back to full metal strength ASAP.

Nye’s  been a fixture in the Dayton scene since the late 80’s starting in Killust then playing in the original version of local legends Decay, appearing on Dayton’s Metal Mania public access show then joining Foul Stench, recording 4 CD’s and 3 more with Maximus Crispus.

Within 24 hours of hearing the news, Marc and Shannon Godsey of Forces of Nature booked and organized the event at McGuffy’s including a 2 dollar raffle for CD’s and T-shirts donated by McGuffys, Foul Stench,  King Stench,  Internal Bleeding, Horlet, NDEX, Engraved Darkness, Vein Collector  and Incurable Misogyny. Gift cards were donated by Subway on Linden/Smithville, 4 free drum lessons by Brian Harris at Absolute Music in Fairborn and Randy Gaines offered free body piercing. There was also a silent auction for a 21” Magnavox TV, with remote and table stand donated by Zeently and a HP-PC donated by Dayton Metal Mania.

Not even 24 hours after supporting Fear Factory on the same stage, Architects of Doom played double duty starting the party at 7pm for all the early evening diehards, Amish time for almost any metal band. Tonight they’re playing for ‘stripper money’ and all bets are off when Keith goes shirtless. They’re proud to call McGuffy’s their second home playing One Less Worry and a kick ass version of Sepultura’s Slave New World.

Forces of Nature came to thrash with their brand of clobbering sound. They’re a band that’s cemented a strong following, and they always have lady luck on their side. They play rapturous thrash with legit end of the world cred playing the Dec 21^st show last year, playing Reverbnation chuggers Magnus Lee, Rotten Tooth and As Seen on TV among others.

Next up Dayton’s black metal blasphemer King Stench spewed its version of evil incarnate. But even the most dark and sinister forms of the genre aren’t as insidious when used for a good cause, to help out a fellow human. Nevertheless Hell’s Gate opened with a fury as 10 songs of Devastation followed from their available CD’s Ungod and Visions of Death including new tune Eternal Fire. Hell’s Gate, Ungod and Goat Lord can be heard on Reverbnation. Marc Godsey played back to back double sets like a proud sweat stained metal soldier. The music is much like what you feel during those something’s chasing you and your feet are stuck in something/not moving dreams. King’s voice sounds like the last thing you’d wanna hear walking into a dark room.

Springfield’s newly resurrected/regrouped Spike Opera brought a blitzkrieg cacophony of sound to the senses. They’re a little bit punk, a little thrash with the frenetic pace of Slayer and Testament with hints of Yngwie Malmstein and the chaotic structure of black metal. Vocalist Dug Brown has a little bit of John Connely and Chuck Billy in his lungs and blood along with some heavy whiplashed dreads. Their music definitely inspires Blood-N-Bruises and Bloodspray. Leatherface gets a facelift and props on The Saw Is Family with all victims going in The Hearse. Their recording/touring history dates back to the mid-eighties.  After many changes and a long hiatus the planets have aligned, and they’ve returned.

It was time for Confessions Of…A Near Death Experience playing and pulverizing anyone who dared to Talk Sh-. They pulled out the good ole ballpeen Hammer just for audience testing. Recently playing the Earth Day bash, tonight seems like they’d rather pummel and pillage rather than save it.